A Chat with BreakTime (07.09.23)
Slathering listeners in vintage power-pop with a harmonic indie-pop chaser, Jersey band BreakTime bring life to the iconic 60s Beatles sound. We speak with bassist Sean Manuel about BreakTime’s EP Specials, theme songs, the pros and cons of being a band, and much more!
OSR: A cliché question but how did BreakTime come about?
Manuel: BreakTime came about as an extension of me gathering my high school classmates up into a rag-tag group to compete (then as The Silver Hammers) in a Battle of The Bands at The Fest For Beatles Fans 2017. After I realized none of them were as serious as I was about scaling the band up, the rumblings of BreakTime would remain largely dormant until 2018 when I took a risk on booking the first Bayonne cover band appearance of BreakTime with two weeks to put a band together.
The name came from my uncle’s friend when, over drinks at The Starting Point in Bayonne, he proclaimed, “You know, everyone needs a good break time!” After enduring many lineup changes and the pandemic reducing a promising version of BreakTime to a duo, Thommy Delaney (lead guitarist) and I resolved to put a Sean Manuel original (of many I stockpiled throughout the trials and tribulations) entitled ‘Rock N’ Roll Refugee’ out in July of 2021, enlist part-time players, and get a committed lineup (Sean, Thommy, Doug, and Peter) in place by January 2022. That, we did. We have been “real” gigging ever since.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Manuel: Music is the essence of my being and the only thing I have ever been unwaveringly passionate about. My earliest memories are of being mesmerized by Paul McCartney’s blue Sgt. Pepper outfit in The Beatles’ ‘Hello Goodbye’ music video, “playing” an inflatable guitar to Badfinger’s ‘Come and Get It’, and attempting to follow the light-up keys on a 1999 Casio keyboard originally purchased for my dad (Spoiler: I got more use out of it than he did).
As much as I have consistently excelled at the top of my classes throughout my academic career and been told by numerous instructors, peers, and mentors that I could do anything else if I wanted, it dawned on me early in life I was meant to be a creative.
OSR: You mention that a local diner, The Broadway Diner, “played host to many significant moments” and that sort of inspired your recently released EP Specials. What significant moments are we talking about here?
Manuel: The Broadway Diner is the site of my parents’ engagement, my baptism party, innumerable dinner dates with my mom throughout my childhood, post-band-practice runs with my bandmates, Saturday breakfasts-for-dinner with my best friend, and birthday celebrations. As they say in the South Park episode about the Jersey Shore: “It’s a Jersey thing.”
OSR: Do you have any specific creative process?
Manuel: I am typically a melody-first songwriter. With a melodic idea in mind (and regularly looping up there if it is memorable), I then audition several possible chord progressions based on how expressive and emotional I desire the melody to be. If the melody is optimistic and easy-going, I will arrange the chords simply to reflect those characteristics; however, if the melody is complex or dictates a longer meandering journey, I will opt for more sophisticated chord constructions we sometimes call, “naughty chords.” Lyrics come last as I write them to fit the melody.
OSR: Making an EP must be great fun but also challenging. What were the best and worst things about making Specials?
Manuel: With no exaggeration, Specials was our greatest challenge to date. We went into the tracking process in March with no EP title, no solid tracklist, and nearly half of the material yet to be completed. We ended up writing literally up to the moment we hit “record”, re-tracking many parts, A/B’ing different interpretations over different takes, and improvising on auxiliary instrumental tracks. If I did not impose a deadline on us to have the material complete, you would not hear a beautifully ethereal track like ‘Love And Harmony’ or the sultry and earthy number ‘Dandelion’ today.
As we are very deliberate and exact in the creative process, the sessions sometimes grew tense; however, the result speaks for itself. The best part of the making of Specials, like any of our releases, is being able to collaborate with my bandmates to render the best creative outcome possible. The worst part is keeping the whole group motivated to overcome writer’s block and conclude the writing process. ‘Love And Harmony’ and ‘Dandelion’ laid unfinished for months until there was a concrete date earmarked for their tracking, with the former having music and lyrics fully written a few days prior to tracking and the latter would be completed as we tracked the bridge section.
OSR: What are the pros and cons of being in a band as compared to a solo artist?
Manuel: Quite simply, being in a band offers you greater capabilities for creatively expressing yourself to the best of your ability. Naturally, you have people to bounce your ideas off of and get inspired from. You may have weak areas in your skill set at this juncture of your artistic journey. Just like any team sport, your bandmates’ strengths will offset those weaknesses. BreakTime is my mutual inspiration society. The sum of our influences and experiences allows us to effectively pursue multiple sounds as we did on Specials.
The only real “con” to being in a band is, if you have trust issues, the only way any progress is ever made is through effective communication and trusting your bandmates. It can be a massive hurdle to overcome as you are opening yourself up to a lot of potential hurt.
OSR: If you could choose a theme song for your life, what would it be? It doesn’t have to be one of BreakTime’s songs.
Manuel: The first song that comes to mind is Elton John’s ‘I’m Still Standing’. After many years of bandmates coming and going, making a fair amount of to-be-expected missteps, being rejected, and having my resilience tested, I am still here and BreakTime is still here.
OSR: What makes BreakTime unique?
Manuel: BreakTime makes the extra effort in every endeavour we pursue. Unlike a lot of bands in our local scene, we dress as a cohesive unit, adopted a sound that takes extensive band-wide vocal prowess and musicianship to properly execute, and write in a style that makes the nostalgic new.
OSR: What future plans do you have for BreakTime?
Manuel: We are not at liberty to discuss future plans yet; however, we can say we have been busy while Specials has been out.
OSR: Do you have any message for our readers?
Manuel: Do you believe mainstream pop music stinks compared to the music of the 1960s? Have you ever said to yourself that you were born in the wrong music generation? If you said yes to either of these questions, imagine a band that takes the best elements of the 1960s and brings them to the present with new original music offerings. That’s BreakTime! You are welcome in our soundscape of love. [BT <3 U]
Many thanks to Sean Manuel for speaking with us! Find out more about BreakTime on their official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
